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[singlepic id=166 w=320 h=240 float=left]The original “New York Bad Ass”, Phil Baroni (14-14, MMA) joined the MMA Fight Corner as a guest host on Saturday and confirmed that he will return to cage to fight Chris Holland in the Ring of Fire’s June 2nd MMA event. Though he hasn’t seen much film on his opponent, Baroni said, “He’s a tough guy. And he’s coming to fight. He’s a brawler.” As of now, Baroni has not yet decided where he will be train for the upcoming bout.

Baroni also expressed his desire to fight for the UFC again, and hopefully in his native state. With MMA pushing to be legalized in New York in 2012, the Long Island New York native admitted that if the UFC was to finally hold an event in Madison Square Garden he’d be game to fight. As host Phil Devine put it, “What would be better than the ‘New York Bad Ass’ in Madison Square Garden?”

“I think the UFC is pretty confident that they’ll get in. So if they get in, they get in. If they get in, they better put me on the card,” Baroni stated.

With a UFC record of 2-7, Baroni was cut from the UFC in Jaunary 2011 after losing back to back fights. The first loss was to Amir Sadollah in UFC 106 via unanimous decison. The second loss was a round one knockout loss to Brad Tavares in UFC 125.

Though he’d love nothing more to fight in front of his home crowd, Baroni joked that the UFC would only have him back if he knocked out Fedor or won 100 fights. He added, “I got some heart. And I could fight…but I really don’t think they’re into older fighters right now. I could be wrong, but I think they want guys they can get some mileage out of.”

Since being cut from the UFC, Baroni has fought for the Titan Fighting Championship and One FC. He’s also slated to fight Martin Grandmont (12-6, MMA) in Montreal, Canada on May 5th for the Instinct MMA promotion.